Department of Physics and Astronomy Michigan State University and Department of Physics, University of Washington

Articles sponsored or reviewed

Wu-Ki Tung, born in Kunming, China (1939), died on Mar 30, 2009 in Seattle, Washington. He was educated at National Taiwan University and
received his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1966. Wu-Ki Tung was Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University (MSU), and Affiliated Professor at University of
Washington.
He was a theoretical physicist, whose main interest
was the study of phenomenological aspects of high energy particle physics,
particularly in the field of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and, more specifically, of parton distributions in hadrons.
Parton distribution functions are
among the standard inputs needed to compare theoretical calculations to experiments
like Fermilab Tevatron
and the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Wu-Ki Tung was the founder of The Coordinated Theoretical-Experimental Project on Quantum Chromodynamics Collaboration
(CTEQ).
He led the CTEQ global QCD analysis group to determine parton distribution
functions from high energy scattering experiments of different types.
Wu-Ki Tung's
group at MSU recognized the importance of
developing a systematic error analysis for the global analysis, which has
now been widely used in various experimental and theoretical analyses.
Wu-Ki Tung was a founding member of Overseas Chinese Physics Association (OCPA)
and had been actively involved in its development and activities ever since.
He was also the author of an influential book Group Theory in Physics, which is used all over the world.